Zenith

ICT4D Week 2018

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

President Goodluck Ebele
Jonathan has commended the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian
Universities (AVCNU), National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Computer
Warehouse Group (CWG plc)-led consortium on the establishment of the Nigerian
Research and Education Network (NgREN), reports ITRealms.

“As I join the
Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) and the
National Universities Commission (NUC) in the celebration of this achievement
in the establishment of the Nigerian Research and Education Network (NgREN), I
commend the individuals and groups that dedicated time and energy to make it a
reality,”
he said.

President Jonathan also
appreciated the World Bank for its support to the NgREN project, and the
Executive Secretary of the NUC for championing its cause and the hardworking
team of dedicated individuals from within the university system to realize this
dream.

He said that government
expects all education and research institutions to enlist as members of the
NgREN and that the current low ranking of Nigerian universities in quality of
teaching and research output will improve significantly within a short time as
a result.

Further, President
Jonathan urges NgREN stakeholders to ensure the broadband infrastructure and
services already provided are maintained and improved upon for the use of all
education and research institutions in Nigeria, while directing the Tertiary
Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the Nigerian Information Technology Development
Agency (NITDA) and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to provide the necessary
funds for this purpose.

For Dr. Omobola Johnson
the major milestone in local technology advancement with a network of this
magnitude wholly designed by Nigerians, built by Nigerians and managed by
Nigerians. She specifically singled out CWG Plc, Resourcery Limited and Phase 3
Telecoms for commendation.

Commenting, CWG group
CEO, Mr. Austin Okere said his team has never doubted local capacity to deliver
major technology projects for government.

“We have matured in delivering projects of
this scale, and are grateful to the NUC and World Bank for the opportunity to
prove this with the timely delivery of the NgREN. We do look forward to the
opportunity of extending this success in the next phases of the project,” he
said.

Airtel
Nigeria in effort to better its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the
country has introduced a scheme tagged “Touching Lives Initiative” in Lagos,
reports DigitalSENSE Business News.

Chief
executive officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya told DigitalSENSE Business News at the launch that the initiative is to enrich the CSR
intervention of the mobile network operator to Nigerians through provision of
succour to the under-privileged members of the society.

This
initiative, he said, marks a significant milestone in the company’s history of
CSR interventions in the country, noting that Airtel Touching Lives is a
responsive CSR project targeted at providing timely aid to underprivileged
Nigerians irrespective of their gender, background or geographical locations.

According
to him, Touching Lives Initiative seeks to identify underprivileged persons
with specific challenges, pains and struggles with the ultimate objective of
providing the needed help to empower and enrich the lives of these individuals.

He
went on to describe the programme as a timely, deliberate and responsive CSR
initiative to tackle myriad of life challenges confronting most Nigerians.

“At
Airtel, we’re passionate about the people we serve and the Nigerian society.
Airtel Touching Lives provides a platform for the underprivileged in our
society to be identified, heard and also cared for,” he said.

Stressing
that it is this commitment to connect with millions of Nigerians, alleviate
their suffering and bring smile to their faces that encouraged Airtel to come
up with this initiative.

He
insisted that the primarily objective for embarking on this initiative it’s
genuine interest in the general well-being of Nigerians, especially people with
special needs. Pointing out that the project is one of the vehicles by which
the company complements the developmental efforts of various governments.

Also
speaking on the project, Airtel’s Director of Corporate Communications and CSR,
Mr. Emeka Oparah, expressed the readiness of the telecommunications operator to
contribute to efforts of government, non-governmental organisations and
individuals who are highly-spirited like Airtel Nigeria in humanitarian
courses.

“Touching Lives is one of the philanthropic
gestures of Airtel Nigeria designed to connect and alleviate the suffering of
helpless people across the country. This initiative underscores our
determination to enrich lives and contribute to humanity.”

Monday, July 21, 2014

Finally, the Nigeria’s internet industry received a boost as
the global internet body, Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers
[ICANN] announced the accreditation of Nigeria’s leading registrar, Upperlink, reports ITRealms.

Upperlink is first Nigerian registrar and eighth accredited
registrar on the content of Africa by ICANN, just as the new status, would
avail Upperlink to serve Nigerian and international markets comfortably.

Upperlink’s core areas are in internet and mobile
applications, software development and deployment, database management, systems
integration and cloud solutions.

As the leading Nigeria Internet Registration Association
[NIRA]’s registrar, Upperlink is in the forefront of registrars spearheading
the migration of Nigerian companies from .com to the .ng domain name, which is
Nigeria's Country Code Top Level Domain.

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of the Computer Registration Professional of Nigeria (CPN) Mr. Sekiru
Shehu has called on the African Top Level Domain (AfTLDs) to create more
demands, reports ITRealms.

Speaking to ITRealms in his keynote to the 2014
Africa Domain Name System (AfDNS) forum holding at the Nicon Luxury Abuja on “Monetizing
the Africa Domain Name Space” Mr. Shehu noted
that there are two sides to a business, namely the supply and demand sides
respectively.

According to him, the problem is not
supply so “we have not done well in creating demand – And so, we have to wake
up.”

Members of the African TLDs community
need to develop capacities for business development, take seriously the issues
of quality of service (QoS), quality of experience (QoE) and put in place
friendly operational policies and procedures.

He pointed
out that as many Africans go online, African businesses and governments are
turning to the internet and in particular the domain name industry to help them
elevate their work to the next level, to help them grow and increase impact.

“The domain
name industry is increasingly becoming a major contributor to our countries, Gross
Domestic Products (GDPs). This has brought about the need to look at ways of
taking advantage of the new opportunities through investment and monetization,”
he asserted.

In addition, Shehu said there are many different
categories of domain investment and monetization, with some being easier than
others.

“Some methods have a higher return than
others. They all have their pros and cons, and they all take time and hard work
to utilize effectively. This will form the basis of our discussion in the next
three days,” the CPN boss said.

Monetisation within the domain name space
include developing affiliate websites – Think of a good domain name, register
it, and then build a website filled with various advertisements for other sites
that bear a similarity to your domain name, making money off anyone who clicks
on the ads and purchases the advertised products.

As said by him, by developing Pay Per Click
(PPC) websites people make money one, which means these are very much like affiliate
sites, except the revenue generated comes from PPC advertising systems like
Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network.

Additionally, domain parking – There are
several services, like sedo.com, where you can “park” your domain. The domain
will have a variety of keyword targeted ads, similar to the ppc and affiliate
sites mentioned above. You make money off the ads that your parking company
puts up. Additionally, you can also list your site for sale at the same time.

For him, domain leasing, which entails renting
the domain name out to advertisers or other interested parties, could be a
source of monetisation, just as domain purchase and resale – register use
domain or buy an existing domain with hopes of reselling it to other domainers.

“Domain Development – Register a domain
name and develop a website for it, with unique content and some sort of business
model,” he said.

Leading network video operator, Axis Communications, has appointed Interdist Alliances as its authorised distribution partner for all African regions outside of South Africa, reports ITRealms.

Confirming this to ITRealms, the Public Relations and Marketing Manager for Axis, Sasha Bonheim, said that with this agreement, Interdist will distribute the full range of Axis Communications security cameras across these regions.

Bonheim quoted the sales manager for Axis Communications’ South Africa hub, Jason McGregor as saying that Interdist has a focussed African footprint, a solid business and reseller network and a strong technical competence that aligns with Axis’s brand and its African strategy.

“Interdist Alliances will be bringing global best practices and business value to our customers in these regions,” he said, stressing that with quality, reliability and accessibility being key requirements for its operations to maintain the high level of customer service and support expected of the company, expressing the believe they made a good choice in Interdist.

Kris Tierney, General Manager at Interdist said it is their commitment as a value added distributor to help companies like Axis find new opportunities and provide reliable, responsive support making full use of the reach offered through the company’s growing network.

“Interdist Alliances is very excited to announce our new relationship with Axis Communications. We are confident that innovative security solutions, including video surveillance will create a huge new opportunity for our partners who can use their expertise in networking and storage solutions to position the Axis range effectively in many sectors, including retail, property management and the financial sector,” Tierney said.

McGregor adds that this move marks an important milestone for the company globally.

“Africa is most certainly the fastest growing emerging market in the world,” he said, pointing out that the continent has gone through a remarkable decade of economic transformation and has become a very busy place to do business with talk of new investment, new cities, new airports and even new refineries.
"All of these places are going to need to be secured and it’d be remiss of us were we not to find our place amongst the buzz," he said.

Monday, July 07, 2014

The Samsung Electronics, Intel have teamed up with Atmel, Broadcom, Dell and
Wind River to form a group with to improve interoperability and to define the
connectivity requirements for the billions of devices that will make up the
Internet of Things (IoT), reports ITRealms.

Also gathered by ITRealms,
would be known as Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) with the aims to redefine
connection standards that will ensure interoperability of devices including Personal Computers (PCs), smartphones, wearables and industrial appliances.

A press statement endorsed by Samsung Electronics showed
that "The OIC is focused on defining a common communications framework
based on industry-standard technologies to wirelessly connect and intelligently
manage the flow of information among personal computing and emerging IoT
devices, regardless of form factor, operating system or service provider."

Further, ITRealms
gathered that some of the outcome could include the specifications capable of making
it simple to remotely control and receive notifications from smart home
appliances or enterprise devices using securely provisioned smartphones,
tablets or PCs. Possible consumer solutions include the ability to remotely
control household systems to save money and conserve energy

ITRealms recalls
that member companies will contribute software and engineering resources to the
development of a protocol specification, open source implementation, and a
certification programme, all with a view of accelerating the development of the
Internet of Things (IoT).

Friday, July 04, 2014

The management of
eTranzact International Plc has explained apprehensions over the Friday burnt
of some mass transit buses belonging to the Lagos State government
decorated with PocketMoni adverts, saying its only a promotional messages,
reports ITRealms.

The Senior Public
Relations Manager, eTranzact International Plc, Mr. Ifeanyi Abraham in an
official press statement made available to ITRealms,
said the attention of the company has been drawn to some publication, owned by
Lagos State but bearing promotional messages about PocketMoni, an eTranzact
International Plc’s mobile money service.

ITRealms recalled that earlier Friday
some BRT belonging to Lagos State government were set ablaze along Palmgrove-Onikpanu
axis of Ikorodu Road in Lagos for alleged involvement in the death of an Army
officer.

“We received
information and pictures of two BRT buses bearing promotional messages of our
mobile money service, PocketMoni which were set ablaze on Ikorodu road, Lagos,”
he noted.

These buses, he
said, were not official buses of PocketMoni or eTranzact
International Plc, but the property of the Lagos State government and were only
used as part of promotional activities reaching out to Nigerians about its mobile
money service.

“We sympathize with
all parties who were involved in the unfortunate incident according to media
reports, and we hope that any injuries received are not fatal,” he said.

Stressing that they
have been in contact with the official owners of the buses and believe they
have everything under control now.